We unlock our greatness by working on the hard things. Coaching expert and bestselling author Michael Bungay Stanier (MBS) is on a mission: to help people achieve their most ambitious, daunting, worthy projects. But how can you get across the threshold so you can make bolder, more courageous choices in other areas of your life? The secret doesn't lie in mastering new habits and hacks; it's about downloading a new operating system for your life. MBS shows you how to regain power and make forward progression on projects and dreams that are meaningful to you. First, figure out The Plan. Be unabashedly ambitious for yourself and the world, commit to the work of hard change, and begin your hero's journey. Then, follow The Threshold Process. Set a worthy goal, weigh the prizes and punishments of acting (or not acting), and then take the first steps toward that goal. Instead of doubting yourself, fearing you'll make a mistake, and feeling like you need to play "small" so you don't disrupt the status quo, start showing up for yourself so you can show up for the world. Don't regret a life half-lived. Stepping up and pursuing your dreams is hard ... and it's exhilarating, and it's important. Let MBS show you how to get clear, get confident, and start anything that matters.

Hi there, it's Michael, the author. You might know my previous book, The Coaching Habit. It was an unexpected bestseller: more than 700,000 copies sold so far, 1,000+ 5-star reviews on Amazon (my favourite: "I have plodded through many books that wish they could be this book"), a Wall Street Journal bestseller, and used by people and organizations around the world.

So I've been sweating on the follow-up. The pressure! The anticipation! But here it is, and I think you're going to like it. If The Coaching Habit says, “here are the seven essential questions to be more coach-like,” The Advice Trap is about getting to grips with how to actually change your behaviour so you stay curious a little bit longer.

It sounds like it should be easy, but it's not. You have to tame your Advice Monster, that part of you that jumps in to offer up ideas, opinions, suggestions and advice. And it's taming your Advice Monster that's at the heart of this book. But there are also some specific coaching strategies, particularly on how to focus on what matters most. There are tools to make your conversations, coaching and otherwise, irresistible. There are even resources beyond the book itself, including a one-year, free leadership program from a 52-person faculty of cool, diverse, and provocative thinkers.

In 2019, I was named the #1 Thought Leader in Coaching, and was short-listed for the coaching award by Thinkers50, the “Oscars of Management.” My work's been featured in journals such as HBR, Fast Company, Forbes, and Inc., and my company, Box of Crayons, has trained more than 100,000 people just like you in the tools and mindset required for this essential leadership behaviour: being more coach-like. You'll get all of that wisdom and experience when you read The Advice Trap. I'm pretty sure you'll find it a great investment of your money and time. (And, by the way, thank you in advance for buying it. I'm thrilled to know the book is going out into the world.)

The secret to work relationships that sing from a top thought-leader in coaching Have you ever had the experience of working with someone . and they just didn't "get" you? For whatever reason, they do all the things that wind you up, put you off and drive you nuts. And have you ever had the experience of working with someone . and you just didn't "get" them? You couldn't figure out what made them tick, and you know you were underwhelming as a manager and leader for them. Of course, you have. We all have. And why, we wonder, do those experiences keep happening? Particularly when we've also experienced the opposite: great working relationships that soar. In How To Work with (Almost) Anyone, internationally bestselling, celebrated author Michael Bungay Stanier (MBS) shares a tested process that sets up working relationships for the best possible success. It shows you how to communicate about who you are and what brings out the best and the worst in you. It gives you the tools to talk with your colleagues about each of your operating manuals, and to set a social contract for how you'll work together (not just what you'll be working on). It teaches you how to keep relationships strong and healthy, clear and clean. Not every relationship can be rainbows and unicorns and free-flowing ginger beer. But everyone who relates can do a better job at amplifying the best of each other, navigating the dark spots, and staying resilient and generous. With How To Work with (Almost) Anyone, MBS reveals the secret to better, more successful relationships.

You work hard. You put in the hours. Yet you feel like you are constantly treading water with "Good Work" that keeps you going but never quite moves you ahead. Or worse, you are mired in "Bad Work" endless meetings and energy-draining bureaucratic traps.
"Do More Great Work" gets to the heart of the problem: Even the best performers are spending less than a fraction of their time doing "Great Work" the kind of innovative work that pushes us forward, stretches our creativity, and truly satisfies us. Michael Bungay Stanier, Canadian Coach of the Year in 2006, is a business consultant who s found a way to move us away from bad work (and even good work), and toward more time spent doing great work.
When you re up to your eyeballs answering e-mail, returning phone calls, attending meetings and scrambling to get that project done, you can turn to this inspirational, motivating, and at times playful book for invaluable guidance. In fifteen exercises, "Do More Great Work" shows how you can finally do more of the work that engages and challenges you, that has a real impact, that plays to your strengths and that matters.
The exercises are "maps" brilliantly simple visual tools that help you find, start and sustain Great Work, revealing how to:
Find clues to your own Great Work they re all around youLocate the sweet spot between what you want to do and what your organization wants you to doGenerate new ideas and possibilities quicklyBest manage your overwhelming workloadDouble the likelihood that you ll do what you want to do
All it takes is ten minutes a day, a pencil and a willingness to change. "Do More Great Work "will not only help you identify what the Great Work of your life is, it will tell you how to do it.
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Look for Michael’s new book, The Advice Trap, which focuses on taming your Advice Monster so you can stay curious a little longer and change the way you lead forever.

In Michael Bungay Stanier's The Coaching Habit, coaching becomes a regular, informal part of your day so managers and their teams can work less hard and have more impact.

Drawing on years of experience training more than 10,000 busy managers from around the globe in practical, everyday coaching skills, Bungay Stanier reveals how to unlock your peoples' potential. He unpacks seven essential coaching questions to demonstrate how--by saying less and asking more--you can develop coaching methods that produce great results.

· Get straight to the point in any conversation with The Kickstart Question
· Stay on track during any interaction with The Awe Question
· Save hours of time for yourself with The Lazy Question, and hours of time for others with The Strategic Question
· Get to the heart of any interpersonal or external challenge with The Focus Question and The Foundation Question
· Finally ensure others find your coaching as beneficial as you do with The Learning Question

A fresh innovative take on the traditional how-to manual, the book combines insider information with research based in neuroscience and behavioural economics, together with interactive training tools to turn practical advice into practiced habits. Witty and conversational, The Coaching Habit takes your work--and your workplace--from good to great.

Being a leader requires much more than just understanding how to run a business. Today's executive is under a unique set of demands, coming from multiple stakeholders. In The Complete Executive, long-time executive coach Karen Wright introduces a unique 10-step system that takes all of these aspects of leadership development into account. Leaders not only need incredible physical energy and stamina, they need a support system, philosophy, plan, business acumen, a social network, and a brand and reputation that will ensure they achieve their vision. Backed by an assessment tool, giving each leader a personal "report card," this book provides aspiring leaders with a framework to address all aspects of leadership that translates to peak performance. Wright knows from experience that even when everything is going well for leaders, high achievers don't stop there, which is why The Complete Executive is designed as a resource to return to again and again for continuous improvement.